A year after lawmakers approved a bill making it easier for startup taxi companies to enter the Denver market, a House committee Thursday approved a bill that would raise the bar back up, slightly.
But the version of Senate Bill 294 approved by the House transportation committee was a compromise from an earlier Senate version that would have made it even harder for new taxi companies to enter the market.
The House compromise, backed by Rep. Buffie McFad yen, D-Pueblo West, seemed to please cab companies and potential startups. “It’s a subtle adjustment to the bill we passed last year because I certainly don’t want to undo that,” she said.
Before last year, the law required a new operator to show that existing service was inadequate. But legislators passed a law flipping that burden onto existing companies to prove the new competition was not necessary and would be “detrimental to the public interest.”
Prior to the new law, Denver had three cab companies, Metro Taxi, Freedom Cab and Yellow Cab, which together operated about 950 cabs. After the bill passed, Union Cab entered the Denver market, and applications from other start ups are pending. Existing taxi operators complained the law was too broad and was resulting in an unregulated market.
The bill this year now says existing cab companies only would have to show either that additional companies are not necessary or that allowing a new one in the market would be against the public’s interest — but not both.
